I am sitting here on a Wednesday night watching my favorite hockey team, the Boston Bruins, play one of their Original Six rivals, the New York Rangers (Bruins just tied the game!). For 113 days, I was not able to do this because of a lockout, one of the worst things a sports fans can hear. When I announced in work that the lockout was over and how happy I was, my boss asked me, "Were you the only one who missed it?"
This is the attitude a lot of hockey fans get. Football, baseball, and basketball dominate the sports consciousness of a lot of America. And that's just fine by me. I do like those other sports to an extent. But my first memory of anything is of hockey. I remember being about 4 years old, listen to my parents whoop and holler while watching the Bruins. I was 4 in 1972-a very good year to become aware of hockey in Boston-a Stanley Cup year with Bobby Orr on the team.
I loved watching games with my family. I have gone to quite a few games, most with my husband who also enjoys the sport. I know a lot of people don't "get it". They call hockey a fringe sport. With 24 hour sports news and so many other "fringe" sports having their own networks (the Golf and Tennis Channels, Speed for NASCAR), I'm not so sure that adjective matters anymore.
People also love to complain how violent hockey is. Yes, there are fights and it is a very physical game. And they do it all on skates, folks. You wanna talk violent-watch a football game sometime. There is plenty of smashing and bashing going on there-some stomping too (Ndamukong Suh anyone?). Americans don't seem to have much of a problem with violence-just take a look at our movies, tv shows, and video games. But hockey? Oh hockey is just too darn violent.
Whether you like it or not, hockey is back. And I for one am very happy about that :)
ok-3rd period is about to start!
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